In this Nov. 23 file photo, Simi Valley’s Sarah Baxter (957) runs in the Cross Country CIF Div. 2 final at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. Baxter won at 16:21 minutes and won all four years. Her winning streak ended Saturday in Portland, Ore. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/Pasadena Star-News file)

Sarah Baxter faced the greatest challenge of her high school cross country career Saturday from Alexa Efraimson and Elise Cranny in the 10th annual Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore.

And with a quarter-mile remaining in the most thrilling 5-kilometer championship battle in meet history, Baxter was in position to become the first prep athlete to win three consecutive national cross country titles.

But the Simi Valley senior’s pursuit to complete an unbeaten career was upstaged by the perfect finishing kick from Efraimson, who rallied from third place in the final stretch to capture the national title in 16 minutes, 50.1 seconds.

“I just needed to start kicking. I knew I couldn’t wait,” said Efraimson, who placed fourth last season.

“I really knew that with 400 to go, I needed to start closing it. I’m still in shock.”

Efraimson, from Camas High in Washington, held off runner-up Cranny from Niwot High in Colorado, who clocked 16:53.8 to improve on last year’s seventh-place effort.

“I liked being the underdog. It gave me motivation,” Cranny said. “I wasn’t ready for Alexa’s move at the end. I thought it was just me and Sarah. I kind of thought (Alexa) was dropping off, so when she came flying by me, I was like ‘Oh my gosh!’ She caught me by surprise.”

Baxter, the two-time Nike champion, placed third in 16:57.8 for Simi Valley, which followed its first Division II state title by producing the best finish in program history at Portland Meadows by taking ninth with 277 points, just one point behind eighth-place Great Oak, the Division I state champion.

“I could barely stand up at the end, so I know I did all I could,” Baxter said. “It was really cold. It was hard to stay warm, even during the race. The ground was all hard and really uneven, so it was easy to twist around.”

New York’s Fayetteville-Manlius had its run of seven consecutive girls national team championships halted by Wayzata High of Minnesota by a 108-120 margin.

Flintridge Prep’s Alan Yoho delivered the best performance by a local male runner since 2006 by finishing ninth in 15:13.7.

Yoho, the Division V state champion, was third among California male athletes and trailed Stockdale of Bakersfield’s Blake Haney (15:07.7) — runner-up to Kai Wilmot (14:58.9) of North Central High in Washington — and Arcadia’s Estevan De La Rosa, who placed fifth in 15:09.2.

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Yoho became only the third area male runner to finish in the top 10 in meet history, joining Royal’s Michael Cybulski — third in 2006 — and Dylan Jaedtke, who was 10th in 2004.

Olivia Rosellini (18:50.9) was the second runner for Simi Valley in 82nd place overall for the Pioneers, who improved from their 11th-place finish in 2011.